Philadelphia.
I cannot but deem your correspondents W. W. and H. G. in error when they
consider that the name of Baron Fairfax ought not to be retained in the
Peerage. The able heraldic editors of the Peerages are likely to be better
versed in such matters than to have perpetrated and perpetuated so
frequently the blunder; or what is to be said of Sir Bernard Burke's
elevation to be a king of arms? Not to omit the instance of the Earl of
Athlone, who, though a natural-born subject of a foreign realm, in 1795
took his seat in the House of Lords in Ireland (a case which H. G. wants
explained), we have a more recent instance in the case of the present King
of Hanover, a foreign potentate, who is Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale
by inheritance, in our peerage, and whose coronation oath (of allegiance?)
must be quite incompatible with the condition of a _subject_ in another
state. I confess I should like to see this explained, as well as the
position of those (amongst whom, however, Lord Fairfax now ranks) who,
while strictly mere subjects and citizens of their own state, may have had
conferred upon themselves, or inherit, titles of dignity and privilege in a
foreign one. We usually (as in the case of the Rothschilds, &c.)
acknowledge their highest title in address, but without any adjective or
epithets to qualify with honor, such as "honorable;" as is the case, too,
with doctors of foreign universities, whose title from courtesy we also
admit, though this does not place them on a footing with those of England.
The present Duke of Wellington and the Earl Nelson inherit, I believe,
titles of dignity in foreign lands, though natural-born subjects of this
realm; and there can hardly be a doubt that Lord Fairfax inherits correctly
his British barony, though, whenever he may exercise for the first time a
_legal_ vote, he may have to exhibit proof of his being the very heir and
person qualified, merely because born and resident in a foreign state; the
same as would in such case doubtless occur with regard to the other noble
persons I have referred to.